Orange City, Iowa — One of the Sioux County Sheriff’s Department’s officers has retired. But it’s not an officer of the human variety, it’s one of the canine variety.
The Sioux County Sheriff’s Office reports that they have retired canine Sonny, a Belgian Tervuren K9 who joined the department in August of 2014. They tell us he was handled by Sergeant Justin De Bruin.
Sonny was Sergeant De Bruin’s second police canine after De Bruin’s first canine, Molly, a yellow lab trained in narcotic detection, retired in July 2014.
They tell us Sonny was a dual-purpose police canine, trained in both criminal apprehension and narcotic detection, and he excelled and won many top awards with the United States Police Canine Association and assisted in many drug finds located on traffic stops and in the field.
Sonny recently handed over the “K9 keys” to Rocky, a single-purpose German Shorthair trained in narcotic detection. Rocky will be handled by Deputy Agustin Martinez and will also have training in tracking in the future.
Sheriff Van Voorst thanked De Bruin saying, “Sergeant De Bruin’s dedication to the sheriff’s office K9 program was outstanding. De Bruin’s achievements with Sonny were amazing and the two were a criminal justice duo the citizens of Sioux County should be very proud of. Along with that, De Bruin will serve very well working with Deputy Martinez to transition Rocky into his career in Sioux County.”
